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Introduction The bystander effect, or bystander apathy, occurs at the scene of road traffic accidents. It is a theory that states that individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when there are other people present. This study aims to perform a concept analysis of the bystander effect at the scene of road traffic accidents in the Iranian context. Methods A concept analysis was performed using a hybrid method recommended by Schwartz-Barcott in three phases: a theoretical analysis, field work and final analysis. In the theoretical phase, a literature review was conducted using the databases PubMed, Scopus, Elsevier, Ovi and Iran-doc, with the relevant studies analysed. In the field work, interviews were carried out with eight medical emergency personnel followed by a qualitative content analysis of the transcriptions. In the last phase, the final analysis was performed to provide a clear definition of the concept. Results In the theoretical phase related to the concept of the bystander effect, some characteristics, such as the presence of strangers, social influence, pluralistic ignorance, self-safety, victim's unstable conditions, lack of awareness and presence of medical emergency personnel were identified. In the final analysis phase, a definition was achieved to be provided in the following sections, by integrating the two theoretical and field work phases. Conclusion The results of this study could pave the way for future studies to further develop the concept of the bystander effect in different cultures and help develop a tool for the further assessment of this phenomenon.
Sepahvand et al. (Wed,) studied this question.